DESIGN / BUILD

Deliver to the Owner a better building with a more efficient HVAC system and for less cost? It becomes a possibility when project owners decide to use a design-build project model. Creative ideas and designs mix with the practicality of cost and reality. The product? A building where the Owner has more input into the finished product; where costs are controlled and good becomes better.

Real Life Example - EDC Building

The EDC building scheduled to be completed in November 2011. This 19-storey, 50,000 sq. m. new building for Export Development Corporation of Canada is described by its developer-builder Broccolini Construction as the largest commercial project in Ottawa for the last 25 years. Broccolini invited X-L-Air to join its design-build team after the mechanical part of the project had run into serious over-budget costs.

The result?

Several millions of dollars worth of cost savings, but without compromising any of the design and contractual aims and constraints.

The Environment

X-L-Air was directed to contribute its own cost-cutting ideas through a value engineering process. It lasted several months, conducted with the full involvement of the Engineer.

  • aims of the mechanical design and the terms of the agreement with the tenant (EDC) ( defined by the Project Definition Binder (PDB)) had to be respected.
  • extensive and detailed references and requirements within the PDB affecting the mechanical systems.
  • Mechanical systems design had been defined by the Engineer in less than 50% completed drawings and specifications!

The design-build team process allowed X-L-Air to contribute its own technical expertise in contracting and in design of mechanical and control systems, in close collaboration with the Engineer, Broccolini and other team members.

LEED requirement

One of the main (and potentially very costly) requirements was that the building had to meet and had to be certified to the Leadership in Energy, Efficiency and Design (LEED) Gold certification standard. The mechanical design development was monitored by EDC’s own design Engineers, who had final approval on all the proposed cost-saving measures whilst ensuring that the mechanical and control systems’ performance and quality would not be compromised.

X-L-Air has been and will be involved as the mechanical contractor member of several design-build teams. Current projects cannot be mentioned for contractual reasons. X-L-Air was in one of the three pre-qualified design-build teams for the technically challenging new Algonquin College Centre for the Trades.